Avengers: Endgame’s Joe Russo Says That Harvey Weinstein Is The Reason Why Blockbusters Stay Out Of The Awards Season: He Vilified Mainstream Movies…”(Photo Credit –Instagram/Wikimedia)
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Avengers: Endgame co-director Joe Russo shared his thoughts on why blockbuster movies mostly do not win major awards in the awards reason, including the Oscars, and the reason is Harvey Weinstein. The convicted s*x offender reportedly pushed art house films for the Oscar campaign, and it has thus become a trend, as per the Russo brother. The remark comes after the Indie film Anora bagged the most wins at the Oscars 2025, including Best Picture and Best Actress. Keep scrolling for the deets.
Weinstein significantly influenced Hollywood cinema, particularly from the 1980s to the early 2010s. His production and distribution companies, Miramax Films and The Weinstein Company reshaped independent filmmaking and awards season strategies. Miramax brought independent films into the mainstream, supporting directors like Quentin Tarantino, Steven Soderbergh, and Kevin Smith. Iconic indie films Pulp Fiction and Clerks became huge box office hits.
Harvey Weinstein was known for aggressive Oscar campaigns, helping smaller films win big. Films like Shakespeare in Love and The King’s Speech reportedly won Best Picture Oscars due to his lobbying tactics. He backed international films and revived interest in historical epics and period dramas. According to Variety, in an interview with The Sunday Times, Joe Russo blamed Weinstein for keeping big-budget and blockbuster movies out of the awards season and excluding them from winning major awards.
Russo said, “He vilified mainstream movies to champion the art films he pushed for Oscar campaigns.” He explained how the highest-grossing movies in the mid-90s were winning the Oscars, but it all changed once Harvey got in the game with his vigorous campaigns.
Joe Russo continued, “Popular films were winning Oscars before the mid-’90s, then Weinstein started mudslinging campaigns…It affected how audiences view the Oscars because they’ve not seen most of the movies. We’re in a complicated place. Things we should all be enjoying collectively, we instead punch each other in the face over.” He also took the opportunity to defend Marvel movies and added, “Like this argument that Marvel movies were killing cinema. Well, Marvel movies seemed to be keeping cinemas open for quite a long time.”
The Avengers: Endgame filmmaker also shared his thoughts on the declining profits and the threat AI poses. He also said, “Like everything, the film space has become divisive. Everything is about who can be the loudest, who can clickbait the most.”
On the professional front, Joe Russo and his brother, Anthony Russo, are returning to the MCU. They are directing the upcoming Avengers movies- Doomsday and Secret Wars.
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